Bozer handed over the bag of popcorn that Jack had requested, before sitting down next to him. They were in one of the training rooms on the ground floor of the Phoenix Foundation. The room was filled with a variety of objects, from household items, to things you might find in an alley way, in the woods, in a garage. In the center of it all was MacGyver, along with three agents.

"So those are trainees?" Bozer queried. "They look...big."

"They're trainees in that they're new to Phoenix," Jack explained.

Bozer nodded. "So explain to me why Mac is training them to fight and not you?"

Grinning, Jack stated, "They trained with me yesterday, at the firing range. Being ex- CIA and FBI, they know how to fight the way I do, more or less. What they don't know is how to fight someone like MacGyver."

"What does that mean, exactly?" Bozer knew Mac well, and his friend was many things, but a fighter? Which he made of point of reminding Jack. "My boy is a thinker, not a fighter."

"You'd be surprised," Jack countered, pausing to chuckle when one of the bigger agents tried to straight out tackle MacGyver, only to find himself hugging air. The kid was quick on his feet, flexible and agile and he used it to his advantage every time. Picking back up on the conversation, he continued, "Mac was trained in the Military and he was trained at DXS. Every field agent has to be trained."

Bozer followed his drift. "Like Thornton is training Riley." It made him smile to think of his *almost girlfriend* as he liked to think of her, being skilled enough to kick his butt. Literally.

Jack clapped Bozer on the shoulder. "Exactly." He popped a handful of popcorn into his mouth, chewed and swallowed, then said, "Did you ever watch that Sherlock movie with Robert Downey Jr? How it shows him thinking out every step of the moves he's going to make when he's fighting that big guy?" At Bozer's nod, Jack continued. "That's kinda what it's like with Mac. He's always ten steps ahead of the bad guy, even when it comes to fighting." Jack pointed to the other big guy in the room. "Watch him. There's all this stuff in here and what does he do? He finds the most obvious club-like object - a golf club - and he's going to do the obvious, try and club Mac with it." Which is exactly what the agent did only for MacGyver to block it with a trash can, which he then used to hit the agent with, taking him down.

"Are they really hurting each other?" Bozer was starting to get concerned. Especially when the third, and smaller, guy came at Mac with a knife. He was damn impressed, however, when his friend blocked the blade with a rolled up magazine.

"They're supposed to pull their hits," Jack explained. "Although that's why I'm here, along with another instructor who's behind the two way mirror." He pointed at the mirror. "Sometimes the agents get a bit carried away, especially when we pit them up against Mac. They take one look at him and assume they can use brute force to take him down easy. When that fails and he bests them, sometimes they get pissed off."

Bozer could see that happening. Even as he watched, one of the bigger guys grabbed Mac from behind, pinning his arms to his side and lifting the slighter man right off his feet. Bozer was starting to get worried, but realized he shouldn't, when his friend went totally limp, making the big guy stumble off balance. At which point MacGyver stomped on his foot, then did some twisty move that had big guy landing hard on his back and wheezing a bit. "That's gotta hurt." Bozer winced in sympathy.

Jack simply shrugged. "A little pain never hurts anyone, if you know what I mean." When Bozer looked at him like he was crazy, he clarified. "If it hurts, it reminds you not to let that happen again. Or, rather, you learn not to make the same mistakes if you can help it."

"Mac is surprisingly good at this fighting stuff," Bozer commented. His friend kept blocking and taking down the three agents. One of Bozer's favorite moves was when his friend grabbed a simple aerosol can, stabbed it with what looked like a screwdriver, and set it off in the biggest agent's face. "I have to remember that move," he exclaimed, giving a whoop.

"Shh..." Jack hushed him. "We're here to observe, not as cheerleaders," he reminded Bozer, although he couldn't keep the grin off his face. He was damn proud of his partner. Which must have shown, because Bozer commented on it.

"You look like a proud papa right now," he drawled, before clapping Jack on the shoulder.

Jack wasn't going to deny it. "I'm not gonna lie. Mac knows that you can't always be nice in a fight, and that when someone is trying to kill you...sometimes you have to take them down and out. He totally gets that bad guys don't always play by the rules either, which is kind of the lesson we're trying to teach the new guys. MacGyver is the very definition of not playing by the rules."

Bozer could heartily agree with that one. "So was he always this skilled?"

"He always had the skills," Jack allowed. "He just didn't always have the motivation." He said aside the popcorn, wiping his palms on his jeans, to get the grease off.

"What do you mean?" Bozer prompted.

Jack shrugged. "When Mac and I first started working together at DXS, I took him aside one day and said I wanted to work with him on his fighting skills. His being so scrawny had me worried, and since I already knew he wouldn't use a gun to defend himself, I felt I needed to make sure he could protect himself just in case I couldn't be there for some reason. At which point he reminded me that he'd been trained to fight by the Army and I told him he hadn't been trained by me."

Bozer found himself chuckling and wishing he could have been there. "That must have been an interesting conversation. I take it he took you up on your offer?"

"He did." Jack smiled at the memory. "First thing, I had him come at me to show me what he could do. He was good, he countered everything I did, and he was smart about it. He knew if I got him pinned he was done, although the couple of times I did pin him, he found a way out. Eventually." Jack thought back on how he got right in MacGyver's face when the kid was squirming under him and trying to twist away. He kept taunting him until Mac got pissed enough to focus and do what he did best - find a way to escape.

"So you didn't take it easy on him?" Bozer queried.

Jack shook his head. "I couldn't. When we worked together in Afghanistan, he surrounded by soldiers. Not that he couldn't take care of himself, because he could. But with the DXS, just like now, sometimes I couldn't be right there to protect him. The bad guys don't follow the rules and they don't always come at you just one at a time. I made sure Mac knew what to do and that he would do what had to be done."

Bozer found himself wondering just what else he really didn't know about his best friend. Instead of being angry, he found he was intrigued. "So, could you teach me how to fight?"

"I could do that," Jack allowed. "I like punching people."

"I don't want to be punched!" Bozer protested. "You know what, maybe I'll just ask Riley to show me some self defense moves."

Clapping Bozer on the shoulder, Jack chuckled. "I can be gentle," he teased, only to break off and point to MacGyver. "Watch...watch this!"

In the middle of the room, MacGyver had the biggest of the agents pinned on the floor, face down, arm twisted behind his back while Mac straddled him. However the big guy used his free arm to push himself to his knees, taking MacGyver along with him. Before Mac could get back on his feet, the other big guy agent had grabbed him from behind.

"Two against one!," Jack crowed. "I love when this happens!"

"You love it when Mac gets creamed?" Bozer was totally confused in this moment, and his eyes widened as he watched the bigger agent get to his feet and confront his friend, who was being bear hugged by the other guy from behind. Mac was in trouble.

Jack snorted. "Just watch," he commanded, patting Bozer on the arm.

Sure enough, as Bozer watched, MacGyver used the guy holding him as support as he curled up his legs then kicked out, slamming them into the chest of the agent coming at him. Which sent him staggering back to fall over the table behind him. The guy holding MacGyver also staggered, releasing Mac so the kid could grab him by the arm and pull him over his shoulder as he jack-knifed forward. The agent hit the floor, hard. Both guys were down for the count.

"YES!" Jack jumped to his feet and did a little dance in a circle, his arms waving over his head. He looked at Bozer. "I taught him how to do that. I did, I did!"

"That's was awesome!" Bozer was up on his feet as well and running over to Mac without thinking about it.

Only for MacGyver to yell, "Bozer, duck!"

Which Bozer did, instinctively listening to his friend. He heard a whoosh and turned his head to see the third agent cry out and freeze. MacGyver had taken off his belt and cracking it out like a whip, the belt buckle nearly whacking the agent in the face. Nearly, because Mac made sure it only came close. He didn't want to injure the guy when they were just training. Bumps and bruises were par for the course, but he wasn't going to cause an actual injury that might take them out. He only went to that extreme for the actual bad guys.

"Love that move." Jack had moved to join them, smiling at the agents. "We're done for the day, boys. I take it you learned a little something about paying attention to your surroundings and using what's at hand. And...not to assume that the little guy is going to be easy to take down."

The agents grumbled a bit, but they all shook MacGyver's hand and thanked him before leaving the room.

MacGyver then turned to scowl at Jack. "Little guy?"

"You know what I mean," Jack countered, smirking. "Little as in...scrawny."

"He's got you there, Mac," Bozer piped in, helpfully, only to receive a scowl of his own.

Turning his attention back to Jack, Mac stated, "I'm lean, not scrawny."

Jack poked him in the ribs. "Sure...whatever." He went to poke him again only for MacGyver to grab him by the thumb and do some twisty move that had Jack on his knees, pinned.

"Remember when you taught me this move?" Mac queried, smirking as Jack tried to squirm out of the hold only to freeze when Mac twisted his thumb just a tiny bit. "It's always been one of my favorites."

"Yeah...I remember," Jack panted, before smacking the floor with his free hand. "Uncle...I cry Uncle already." He sighed in relief when Mac released him, rubbing his thumb then his shoulder. "You did take particular glee in learning that one," he allowed, slowly rising to his feet. He was smiling though, because he was damn proud of the kid.

Mac snorted. "That's because you always fall for it." He finished sliding his belt back into place before clapping both of his friends on the shoulder. "Coffee? I'm buying."

Bozer was all in. "Sounds good to me."

"Me too," Jack said, before spinning on his heel and, in one smooth move he grabbed MacGyver and tossed him over one shoulder. Laughing gleefully as he ignored Mac's command to be put down, Jack smacked him on the butt before turning to head for the door. "And you always fall for this move, kid." Over his shoulder he called out, "You coming, Bozer?"

"Right behind you, Jack," Bozer replied, before running to catch up. He could hear Mac still complaining and ordering Jack to put him down, making Jack laugh louder.

Bozer knew one thing for sure, his life would never be boring again.

THE END.